Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God

J. I. Packer

Foreword by Mark Dever

www.IVPress.com/books

InterVarsity Press

P.O. Box 1400 Downers Grove, IL

60515-1426

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© 2012 by J. I. Packer

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Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover design: Cindy Kiple

Images: Lonny Kalfus/Getty Images

ISBN 978-0-8308-6674-8

Contents

Foreword by Mark Dever

Preface

Introduction

1. Divine Sovereignty

2. Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

3. Evangelism

4. Divine Sovereignty and Evangelism

Foreword

Before J. I. Packer became an evangelical superstar with the publication of Knowing God in 1973, he had already made important contributions to evangelical readers. Packer had a knack for addressing key topics succinctly and powerfully. What others would do in long and ponderous tomes, Packer would address, fairly and squarely, with a little volume of three or four chapters. The clarion call for “God-centeredness,” long before John Piper’s Desiring God or even Packer’s own Knowing God, was Packer’s little introduction for the republication of John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. The loss of faith in Scripture he met with the little volume “Fundamentalism” and the Word of God. And, in July of 1961 appeared the book you now hold in your hands—Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God.

The title both summarizes the content and invites the reader perfectly. Various people are called to read the book by this simple title. Are you interested in evangelism? This book will address it directly by explaining what it is, and the need for it, in terms that are both simple and theologically careful. It will help you evangelize better.

Are you interested in the doctrine of God’s sovereignty? This book is for you. In the most basic yet informed way, Packer addresses the simple question, “If God is in control, why should we do anything at all? Why should we work? Why should we pray? And especially, why should we evangelize?”

Packer addresses this question so clearly and biblically that this book is good for anyone who is beginning to wrestle with questions of how God’s sovereignty can ...